Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) will compete with Whitney Fox (D) this November to retain control of her Congressional District 13 seat, one of the closest watched races in Florida. Rep. Luna mocked Fox as a "radical" who "wants open borders" and "does not want people to have cars" in recent comments to The Floridian.
The Fox campaign has previously attacked Rep. Luna as an "extremist" for her pro-life views and hawkish border policies.
"Those in Congress screaming the loudest about the border, like Anna Paulina Luna, are also the ones derailing any meaningful reforms," stated Fox.
Immigration Policy hasn’t been reformed in over 30 years. Those in Congress screaming the loudest about the border, like Anna Paulina Luna, are also the ones derailing any meaningful reforms. Separating children from their parents is not the answer. Both parties need to work… pic.twitter.com/JSYJ8Cnh2T
— Whitney Fox for Congress (FL-13) (@whitfox) January 20, 2024
A July tweet on the abortion issue from Fox stated, "Extremist politicians like Anna Paulina Luna are attacking reproductive freedoms and democracy while doing nothing to lower costs for families."
Extremist politicians like Anna Paulina Luna are attacking reproductive freedoms and democracy while doing nothing to lower costs for families. I’m running for Congress to protect our way of life.#VoteWhitneyFox #Florida #FL13 pic.twitter.com/V79PKcZMPE
— Whitney Fox for Congress (FL-13) (@whitfox) July 18, 2024
In her comments to The Floridian, Rep. Luna said that Fox "does not want people to own cars" and that "She wants open borders."
While Fox has not publicly stated anything about car ownership, one of her LinkedIn posts from 2019 did say, "Americans' love affair with the car is going away."
Fox's tweet also stated, "If you want to attract millennials, the future of our workforce, as well as new businesses to build the economy in your city, you need to concentrate on public transportation!" followed by the hashtags #carfreeliving, #carfreestpete, and #carfree."
Fox's campaign website does not contain any information or her stances related to the ongoing border crisis, though it criticizes Luna for supporting the impeachment of Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
A recent poll reported by the Florida Phoenix, suggested Luna was trailing Fox by four points, while a Club for Growth poll placed the Florida Congresswoman ahead by five.
As a result, Luna accused Fox of promoting "cooked polling" or a poll that was possibly commissioned with an ulterior motive.
"She pushes cooked polling, which is honestly disingenuous, because people cannot afford groceries right now. So yeah, look at the polling. The same poll said that instead of having Governor [Ron] DeSantis (R-FL), we were going to have [Andrew] Gillum. Same polling that said I was going to lose the last two times and that [Republicans] are going to lose the actual state legislature said that I was down," she said.
The Hill newspaper is forecasting that Luna has a 91% chance of retaining her seat.
Regardless, the Florida Congresswoman concluded that her opponent Fox is a "radical" for her support of "open borders" and her support for affording illegal immigrants the priviledge of obtaining a Social Security card.
"She should be considered the radical with her position. I think anyone that wants to remove cars, that wants to open borders, and wants to give Social Security to illegals, and that lies to voters in an attempt to raise their personal profile when they have done literally nothing to say, 'That is an accomplishment,' I would say that speaks for itself," Luna concluded.
Fox has received an unprecedented number of Democratic Party endorsements, including congressional endorsements from Reps., Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Lois Frankel, Kathy Castor, and Eric Swalwell.
In addition, Fox has received the support of outspoken gay activist and State Senator-elect Carlos Guillermo Smith, who once defended "Democratic Socialism" on the floor of the Florida House of Representatives, and voted against a measure denouncing "Democratic Socialism."
During the 2022 Florida Legislative session in Tallahassee, Smith joined most House Democrats in voting against the "Individual Liberty, Private Property, and Democracy" measure that “denounces Democratic Socialism in favor of true American values of individual liberty, private property, and constitutional democracy.”
In addition, Smith famously defended Socialism and Democratic Socialism.
“These are stunning allegations that Socialism has killed people around the world. My question is, are you at all concerned that by focusing on Democratic Socialism, which has actually resulted in no deaths, no one is physically harmed, and not addressing the very real problem of neo-Nazism, white supremacy, and Fascism in the last four years, that we are sending a bad message,” said Smith in response to Rep. Tom Fabricio’s condemnation of Socialism.
Publisher Javier Manjarres contributed to this story.
